Caging Dragons
by Niberts
Summary: AU Story with Neji Hyuga as the POV character (mostly). Lots of minor changes. Neji has always felt imprisoned by what he believes is his predetermined fate. When events transpire to cause him to try and redefine his own fate, will he manage to soar or find himself permanently caged.


Even with his Byakugan enhanced awareness, Neji barely managed to dodge the roundhouse kick, bending back almost 90 degrees to avoid the blow. His desperate dodge left him totally defenceless as his opponent used her rotation to transition to a back kick, striking his solar plexus with pinpoint accuracy.

Neji's breath rocketed out of his lungs as the force of the blow threw him through the air. He landed messily, skidding to a halt facedown in the grass, desperately gasping for breath. His Byakugan showed that he had no time to recover as his opponent launched several kunai at his exposed back. Unable to get his feet in time, Neji desperately rolled away from the speeding projectiles, barely managing to avoid the deadly barrage.

Between the screaming of his lungs and barrage of hurled missiles, Neji briefly lost track of his opponent, which was all it took. Time slowed as he became aware of her figure towering over him, her raised foot appearing to shine a bright blue as she channelled chakra to her foot for a combat stomp. As Neji desperately raised his arms in a cross-block, channelling chakra into his shoulders and arms to absorb some of the force, he realised the futility of the act. The stomp would be a lethal blow.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The power of Anko Mitarashi's combat stomp caused her foot to sink several inches into the earth beside Neji's head.

"Not good enough" she bit out, scowling down at the gasping Genin with disapproval. "What's the point in being able to see in all directions at once if you're not able to keep track of what your opponent is doing? You've got to learn to survive fights against stronger opponents. Your mental fortitude can be the only advantage you have. Ignore the pain and surpass your limits! Force your body to keep moving even though it's screaming at you to stop!"."

Despite his laboured breathing and prone position, Neji's face was an impassive mask as he let his sensei's rant wash over him. It wasn't the first time he'd received this particular speech. It was ridiculous anyway. Of course he'd lose to a Jonin, what other outcome could there be when he was just a genin? Whilst it was true that chakra was partially derived from the mental capabilities of the individual, a person's mental limits were just as set as their physical ones. What the hell did "surpass your limits" even mean? If you could surpass them, then they obviously weren't your limits. Wasn't it enough for his sensei that he was already one of the strongest genin? No amount of empowering clichés would allow him to beat an opponent that was just plain stronger than he was.

Anko's scowl deepened. "Get up" she snapped irritably. She looked over to where his team-mates were sparring in slow motion on top of a pond to train their chakra control. Pitching her voice so that all three genin could hear she barked out "Kaname! You're sparring with me. Tenten and Neji, you're sparring with each other, kenjutsu moves only!"

Neji's irritation broke through his usually impassive face and he frowned slightly as he glanced at the katana lying nearby. He couldn't refute Anko-sensei's reasons for insisting he train with the weapon, but he hated it nonetheless. The weapon's weight slowed down his attack speeds and the rigid forms felt awkward and inefficient compared to the gentle fist style he'd spent his entire life mastering.

Having finally gotten his breath back, Neji flowed gracefully to his feet. Walking over to the katana lying on the ground he picked it up and drew the blade from the scabbard, moving slowly through several katas to make sure his body was warmed up enough for the very different movements that the basic style of kenjutsu he was mastering required. As he did so, his team mate Kaname sauntered up to him. "Better watch out, Tenten is feeling good today and is in fine form, you might lose your genius title if you lose twice in one day" her gentle smile and smiling blue eyes took much of the sting of her words. Before Neji could formulate a response however, their conversation was cut off by Anko, "What the hell are you lollygagging for girl?" Anko demanded with her hands on her hips, still standing next to the small crater that could have been Neji's head. Only Neji's still active Byakugan allowed him to observe the slight alteration in Kaname's smile to a more joyously mischievous tint as, without so much as glancing at her sensei, Kaname palmed and hurled a Kunai at her in one smooth action. Anko's muffled curse at the unexpected attack was cut off by a loud explosion as Kaname used the snake seal to remotely detonate the attached explosive seal just before the missile reached its intended target. Without pausing to see the effect of her attack, Kaname's hand blurred through a number of seals before she slammed one foot against the ground. The ground in front of her seemed to explode as dozens of fist-sized chunks of rock spontaneously rocketed from the ground towards the cloud of smoke where their sensei had previously been standing.

Unfortunately for Kaname, what she couldn't see was that their Sensei's hands had also began to flip through seals as soon as she had been forced to launch herself backwards to avoid the explosion. Neji's mouth dropped open however when he saw how much lightning chackra his sensei was moulding for her technique, more than enough to lethally kill anyone it hit. Throwing his katana behind him and grabbing Kaname by the collar of her blue jacket, Neji yanked her backwards at the same time as he launched himself bodily forward, already pushing chakra out from every tenketsu on his body. As he did so his Sensei's technique emerged from the clearing cloud, a gigantic ball of lighting similar to the Grand Fireball technique, a seething mass of lightning chakra prevented from dispersing and kept in shape by a ball shaped shell of chakra. As the flying earth missiles passed through the lightning ball the earth chakra that had hardened the missiles into stone was undone, turning the lethal barrage into a hail of soft dirt that was already breaking into smaller clumps; irritating but incapable of harm. Twisting his body as he launched himself into the air Neji began to spin with chakra reinforced speed, his constant expulsion of chakra continuing his rotation and creating a rotating shield of chakra. Neji's chakra shield broke the delicate casing and prevented the lightning from reaching him as it hungrily sought ways to ground itself. As the last of the lightning dispersed into the air and ground Neji released the technique, landing lightly on his feet and fixing his Sensei with an enraged glare. What on earth was she thinking? She could have killed them both. He faltered though as he saw the scowl Anko was giving him. "So instead of learning the Vacuum Palm like I told you to, you instead focused on the technique I _specifically_ told you not to" she grated. "Not only is the heavenly rotation technique not particularly useful for an infiltration and assassination team like ours, but learning the heavenly rotation is just asking for more trouble with your clan." Neji looked away first, but didn't otherwise respond to her statement. It was his choice what jutsus he learned and he refused to justify himself.

After letting the silence go on for several seconds more, Anko's gaze softened slightly as it slid to Kaname "Not a bad attempt at all, but remember that lack of visibility cuts both ways, though I'd say Neji could cover for most of the strategies current weaknesses. Anyway it seems we have reason to celebrate tonight, Kaname has mastered channelling jutsus through her feet, speeding up her activation speed. At least some of my Genin know how listen."

Seemingly trying to break the tension, Kaname mock scowled at Neji as she dusted the dirt her clothes had acquired when he'd bodily yanked her backwards. "I appreciate the attempted save Neji but you could have trusted me to react to the situation myself, you didn't have to physically throw me backwards" Kaname groused. Neji nodded in agreement at his team-mate which seemed to mollify her but privately he had his doubts. He did not deny that Kaname was talented, she'd consistently if ineffectually challenged him for top place at the academy but could she be trusted to react without interfering with his own actions? It was safer to just throw her backwards and rely on his own abilities to see them through.

Anko once again interrupted any further conversation that could have taken place, "Alright let's get on with this finish up this training session so we can go eat, Kaname come over here and spar properly, unless you'd like to try your luck with another surprise attack?" Anko's feral grin left little question as to how any further attempts would go. "N-no Sensei I think some normal sparring would be great." Kaname stammered, she knew from past experience how dangerous that feral grin could be. Anko's gaze then slid to Neji as she quirked an eyebrow and glanced at his discarded sword "And I swear I told you to go practice your kenjutsu with Tenten." Even Neji knew better then to mess with Anko when her blood was up.

Realising that the Kenjutsu training was non-negotiable, Neji mutely bowed to his sensei, grabbed the discarded blade off the ground and walked over to where Tenten was standing waiting for him, a summoned Naginata familiarly grasped in one hand. Tenten smiled apologetically at him but still assumed her readiness position. Though Neji resented the training itself he had to admit that Tenten was a good training partner. Her mastery of a number of different styles of bukijutsu had allowed him to spar against a variety of different weapons and styles, quickly increasing the breadth of his experience. Each new style she introduced him to in sparring followed a similar pattern. At first she would completely dominate Neji as he was forced to learn new techniques and katas to cope with the new situations, but as he become familiar with the styles, the advantages his eyes bestowed and his natural talent allowed him to even the playing field. He was forced to admit however that if he were forced to rely on a blade against Tenten's natural style, which revolved around quickly switching weapons for immediate tactical advantages as well as the use of various ninja tools, he would quickly be overwhelmed.

Despite Anko's seeming desire for dinner it was another hour before she called an end to the training session, finally allowing her exhausted genin a rest.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Even after being part of this team for more then a year, Neji was still unable to fully accept the strange contradictions presented by his Genin team and Sensei. The entire team was wearing formal black kimonos (presented to them by Anko after their first successful mission) and were seated on cushions in one of the formal tea rooms at Konoha's most expensive ryokans, watching in silence as their mentor- their sadistic blood knight-like mentor- performed an informal tea ceremony wearing an expression of such calm and poise that one was forced to question how the two personalities could exist in the same person. There was no denying however that she was talented at the ceremony: her every movement as graceful and controlled as the masters of the ceremony he'd occasionally observed at the Hyuga main house (obviously as a branch member he'd never gotten to actually taste the tea).

The break in discussion provided by the brewing gave Neji an opportunity to surreptitiously watch his two team-mates, wondering, not for the first time, if there was more to them then was evident. Tenten, brown hair hanging loose to her shoulders and framing her pretty features and deep brown eyes rather then bound in their usual buns on each side of her head, was watching their Sensei with a steady and respectful gaze. Neji knew that Tenten idolised powerful konoichi and that her dream was one day to be recognised as one of the best, like Tsunade the legendary Sannin. He wondered whether some event from her past had pushed her to become a ninja. She and her father were immigrants to the village and had no ninja lineage. Her father was a skilled weaponsmith who used chakra to enhance his ability to undertake his craft but had no experience in ninjustsu. Neji found the man suspicious, though he was an extremely skilled weaponsmith, the man had also trained Tenten in bukijutsu himself, leading Neji to wonder why a simple smith would have so much experience with such a wide variety of weapons (though his explanation that it was important to know how to use a weapon when making one did make some -extremely limited- sense). Consequently Tenten had a reasonable supply of chakra for a shinobi and was an extremely talented ninja tool user but had very little talent in either genjutsu or ninjutsu. Neji himself believed that her skills would be better suited to life as a bodyguard or Samurai and that she was wasting her time by pursuing her dream when she was clearly limited. Still her continuing hard work, though ultimately futile, made her an adequate team-mate.

If Tenten was a riddle, Kaname was a full-blown enigma. Whilst Tenten and Anko were pretty Kaname was beautiful, with long fiery hair and startlingly deep royal blue eyes, even at 13 she often attracted double takes when walking along the street (though people quickly moved on after noticing the hitiate bound around her arm). It wasn't her beauty but her skills that Neji found himself ruminating on. Neji was said to be a prodigy of the strongest clan in Konoha: the Hyuga (though several other clans would contest that claim), and yet Neji consistently found that no matter how much he improved Kaname was always right behind him. Her talent however could simply be a quirk of fate, were it not for her massive chakra reserves and her surprising strength. Neji was convinced that her parents must have come from powerful ninja lineages. Her parents had certainly been well connected as, after they were slain by the Kyubi's rampage, she had been unofficially adopted into the Sarutobi clan and raised along with their other Clan orphans. Being raised by the Sarutobi clan, Kaname had begun to master her first earth jutsus transformation before she had even graduated and had even began to study medical ninjutsu soon after graduating. Despite seemingly engrossed in watching Anko a small smile appeared on his team-mates face and Neji realised he must have noticed him glancing at her.

Frowning slightly Neji redirected his attention back to his Sensei as she finished brewing the tea and poured everyone a cup. Handing three of the cups to her genin she uncovered a large serving container in the middle of the table heaped with Dango and other sweet cakes and, smiling with genuine pleasure, heaped a plate with Dango for herself. As the genin took a more reasonable amount of sweets she began her debrief for the day.

"It was a good session today. Kaname and Neji, you continue to show rapid improvement and growth, the techniques you showed today and your continued improvement shows that you're both well on the way to being ready to be promoted. Don't get too full of yourselves though, I also have an announcement to make on Tenten's behalf. Unlike you two members of prestigious clans, Tenten has no one at home to teach her ninjutsu so approached me for some extra training. She's been working extremely long hours recently and has been the first member of the team to master an assassination ninjutsu. It's too strenuous a technique to practice in training but I can guarantee that neither of you are capable of stopping it if she gets it off." Anko was grinning as she watched Tenten's bright red face. "None of that girl, you worked damn hard to master that technique."

Smiling one last time at her blushing pupil, Anko reached into a leather satchel that she had brought with her and, her face transitioning into the serious demeanour she used for mission briefings, grabbed out a thick leather folder full of documents. "It seems training is over for now, we've been given a mission. It seems after several months of undertaking training and D-class missions, the rookie team under Kakashi Hatake has agitated the Hokage for a C-class mission and he, in his ineffable wisdom, has decided to give one to them." Neji could understand the frustration, D-class missions were either: boring routine missions that nevertheless required a Ninja's presence, such as carrying intelligence and supplies to drop points for the various Hidden Leaf outposts hidden throughout the Land of fire and doing routine patrols and fact-finding missions throughout the Land of Fire and allied nations; or, doing menial jobs such as finding lost pets, finding rare species of beetles, and performing at parties for rich idiots with too much money who were happy to pay the villages expensive rates so they could claim that they'd had a 'ninja' do it. C-class missions on the other hand expected opposition, though it shouldn't be ninjas or chakra using individuals at that level, and were almost guaranteed to require either some combat or stealth and espionage, fully justifying the skills that ninjas spent their lives refining. Whilst D-class missions were an important part of understanding the villages various activities and provided an income to the village that was low on risk, whilst performing them it could be easy to wonder what the point of all the training was.

"Anway" Anko continued "Kakashi's team has been tasked with defending a master-engineer from bandits whilst he travels back to, and completes a bridge in, the Land of Waves. It should be a pretty easy c-class mission, but the Hokage is worried: the Land of Waves is currently experiencing a low-level civil war. Gato, a cousin of the current Lord, who made a massive fortune on international shipping is demanding that his cousin abdicate in favour of himself due to supposed 'mismanagement of the country'. Though Gato doesn't have the men to challenge his cousin to a straight up fight, he's been harassing local villages with thugs and bandits and strangling the countries economy through pirate attacks on the fleet of supply ships that carry both the countries imports and exports. The current lord has tried to end the countries reliance on the sea lanes by undertaking a massive bridge building process to link the country to the mainland of the Land of Fire. Unsurprisingly, Gato has tried to sabotage the project but the Land of Waves military is protecting their end and the Daimyo has sent an expeditionary force to protect the work being undertaken on the Land of Fire side. The chief engineer however, is more vulnerable and there is a concern that he may be assassinated, seriously damaging the project. There are also concerns that as the project nears completion Gato may get desperate and hire ninjas to sabotage the bridge. Gato's own funds have been severely depleted by the ongoing conflict, and it seems extremely unlikely he could afford the extremely high prices such a high visibility target (and one that the Land of Fire military is involved with) would entail, but many missing-nin are more desperate and may be tempted to take the work. Regardless of our opposition however, our mission remains the same, to protect the bridge builde" she looked down at the briefing sheet "Tazuna, and ensure that he is safe while the bridge is safely completed. Any Questions?"

Kaname, raised her hand "Sensei, given the possibility of ninjas being involved and the Fire Daimyo's interest in the completion of the bridge, doesn't it make sense to send more then two genin teams?"

Anko smiled at her genin "It's a good question, but first let me point out that the Hokage is sending two JONIN on this mission, we'll be the ones handling any ninja combat. Your job will simply to provide protection to Tazuna whilst we handle the threats. However the reason the Hokage has decided to send genin teams instead of a chunin one is due to politics. The Lord of Waves has tasked the military to protect the bridge and they have staked much of their reputation on this bridge building project. If an adult chunin team were seen protecting the bridge it would cause a major loss of face for the military and could cause a rift between the military's leadership and the Lord of Waves at a time when he is struggling to retain control of the country. You, no offence, will be seen as kids and we will be seen in turn as your babysitters, and as such will be an interesting novelty rather then an insult." Anko's face hardened "With this in mind I expect you to ignore any jibes you hear from the military personnel present. We'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning, I expect you to go home and pack all the required supplies for several weeks of travel with some expected combat." As Anko finished her briefing she began carefully and ceremonially packing up the antique tea set she always used, a sure (though informal) sign telling her Genin they had been dismissed. Standing, they bowed to her as they left the room and walked out of the Ryokan together.

As soon as they were outside Kaname rounded on Tenten, good humour making her eyes bright in the lamp lit street. "SOOOooo you've mastered a new technique that" her face suddenly turned absurdly serious as she put on a voice that could only be considered a good imitation of Anko's if you were being generous "Neither of you poor geniuses with your so-called 'talent' could hope to stop." Shifting back to her own normal tones and smiling again she continued "Will you share some morsel with us poor mortals or shall we just expect to get splatted the next time we irritate the mighty and terrifying Tenten?" Tenten was smiling herself by this point and replied breezily "I guess I could share something to put you out of your misery, the technique itself is just me throwing a weapon at my target" her smile widened at Kaname's raised eyebrow and she continued loftily " ok, I admit…..it's a really HARD throw." The girls looked at each other for a few second before they both burst out laughing. As their laughter died down, Kaname placed her hands on Tenten's shoulders and, her face becoming more serious, continued "Seriously though Tenten congratulations, I can't imagine how hard you must have worked to get that sort of praise from Anko-Sensei. Whatever your badass new technique is, I'm sure you more then earned it." Her own congratulations delivered, Kaname turned to Neji and quirked an eyebrow at him. Neji, who had been standing several feet away from the pair took the hint, stepping forward and bowing slightly to his team mate "Congratulations Tenten, your commitment to being a ninja continues to surprise me. I'm sure your new technique will prove extremely valuable to the team. If you'll excuse me, I should head home and prepare for the mission tomorrow." Bowing again, this time to both team-mates Neji silently pivoted and began to walk towards the Hyuga Estate.

Though he was glad Tenten had mastered her first real ninjutsu, Neji had his doubts whether her new technique, whatever it was, was really as potent as his Sensei had implied. I mean the Heavenly Rotation Jutsu was considered to be a perfect defence by many, though it did have it's weaknesses and he wasn't as proficient in the technique as many of the main house members (given he'd had to learn it by watching them when they'd been training). Any technique that was able to pierce such a defence would require an overwhelming offensive power. Anyway, he was sure that he would witness the technique himself at some point and then he'd be able to make his own estimation on the strength of the technique.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The Hyuga estate was on the outskirts of Konoha, a loose collection of smaller (but still well kept and comfortable) buildings surrounding a single sprawling mansion. A symbolic representation of the branch families relationship with the main families. The Hyuga estate had no walls or defensive features, instead relying on the fabled sight of it's denizens for it's defence. Neji's own dwelling was on the far side of the complex, backing directly onto the massive forest that completely surrounded Konoha. It's risky placement on the outskirts of the village a compliment to the skills of his dead father rather then his own. As always, Neji went the long way around the outskirts of the estate despite the extra time it took, given the choice he avoided the main family where possible.

Neji's house was a small but well appointed three bedroom home, far too big for its single occupant. No lights were on inside and the building looked unwelcoming, even to Neji who had lived there as long as he could remember. It had been given to Neji's mother and father when they were married, a gift of hope for the future and of a loving family. Unfortunately Neji's mother had died from complications soon after his birth and his father had been sacrificed by the Main Hyuga family. Between the Kyubi's rampage and the general lethality of a ninja's chosen life, Neji knew that there were quite a number of orphans in similar situations to himself, living alone at quite young ages (Kaname herself was one). Konoha's general system for looking after orphans was to leave them in an orphanage only until they were old enough to enter the Ninja academy. Those that had no interest or ability in the academy were provided either an apprenticeship to a craftsmen or were shipped to a boarding school in the Capital. Orphans that entered the academy were given a place to live and a personal stipend whilst their general wellbeing was put into the care of their clan. If the orphan had no clan the Hokage would ask which other ninja clans would be willing to look after them. The standard of care the orphan received varied widely between the clans, Neji himself had been provided with healthy meals and personal training when required, but otherwise had been left to his own devices. Some would, no doubt, consider it a harsh system but the ninja life itself was harsh and those losers that couldn't survive a little tribulation were better weeded out and discarded early rather then later.

As always when he came home Neji first visited the room he'd converted into the family shrine, the room that had once been the master bedroom. The room was entirely devoid of features except for a large shrine at the far end of the room. The ornate wooden shrine was the one thing that Neji had splashed out on apart from ninja supplies since he'd graduated. The wooden shrine had been custom made, with in built ornate picture frames decorated with stylized animals for his parents (Hawks for his father and Bluebirds for his mother). Behind the pictures of his parents was a wooden statue of Hamura Otsutsuki, or at least an artist's interpretation of him. As he always did, Neji lit an incense stick and, putting it in the specially designed dish, bowed his head in prayer and silently paid his respects to his parents. Once he was done he bowed low to his parents and silently exited the room, closing the door as he did.

Heading into his own sparsely furnished room, Neji quickly and efficiently packed for the next day's mission. Assembling piles of shuriken, kunai, mission rations, a rain proof sleeping bag with a cover, and a few spare pairs of clothes (most of which were designed in the civilian style but subtly reinforced) and some coloured contact lenses to mask his unique eyes. Once he was happy that he had prepared the required basics he packed it all into a large green backpack. As he completed his packing his eyes fell on his katana, sitting propped against the wall by the door where he'd placed it when he came home to bathe and change before his mission brief. Sighing he picked it up and tied the scabbard to the side of the backpack using the specially designed ties, he knew there would be hell to pay if he left it at home.

His packing done, Neji glanced at the clock. It was far too early to go to bed but he had no desire to go out again and had no real hobbies. Thinking for a moment before smiling slightly, Neji stripped out of the heavy black kimono and instead put on a pair of light training shorts. Opening his window to the cool night air Neji calmly vaulted through it and began to run, quickly escaping the lights of the Hyuga estate as he ran through the forest behind his home. Once he was several kilometres metres from the boundary of the Hyuga estate he stopped in a small clearing and activated his Byakugan, the veins around his temples bulging as he activated his clan's bloodline ability.

Neji had never been able to adequately explain what the Byakugan's sight was like, as much as one would struggle to explain sight to the blind. You could explain to someone that the Byakugan allowed the user to see chakra, but how could you explain the beautiful riot of colours that the Byakugan revealed. Neji could see the earthy greens and brown tones of Chakra inhabiting the earth below his feet and threading through the trees around him; the almost invisible whites and blue chakra of the air and wind flowing around his body; he could see the bright brown chakra of a nearby rabbit, surprised by his presence but not yet fleeing into the forest; he could even see the dark blue colour of his own chakra swirling through his own body.

Breathing deeply for a moment, Neji began channelling a small amount of chakra to all of his muscles, bolstering their stamina without increasing their speed or strength. He then began to channel a small amount of chakra through the tenketsu in his hands as he pressed them together in front of his chest in an action that resembled praying. Moving slowly, Neji began unclasped his hands and, extending them horizontal to his body, slowly spun in a circle, his Byakugan revealing long trails of dark blue chakra streaming from his hands as he did so. Losing himself in the movements, Neji began to flow through a series of patterns moving from one to another at whim, his hands creating complex patterns in the air as he continually released trace amounts of chakra. Neji had always loved the traditional dances of the Hyuga, with their graceful movements and the resulting beautiful chakra patterns. The forebears of the clan had originally created and used these dances as a training exercise, using it to refine their Gentle Fist styles; certainly the basis for all of the various strikes in the Gentle fist could be found in the myriad dances found in the extensive Hyuga library. Due to their beginnings as a training exercise, the dances had a distinctively martial style compared to dances, however the natural grace of the Hyuga Gentle fist fighting style meant that they were still beautiful to watch. The Gentle Fist techniques had long since been codified into a Main house and Branch style however and the dances were no longer used, being instead replaced with drills. These days the art was only seriously practiced for traditional ceremonies and honoured guests by members of the branch family whose bloodline gifts were too weak for active duty. Neji's Father Hizashi however had always told Neji that his mother had loved to watch the dancers and had even gotten some lesson's herself (despite not being a Hyuga by birth and therefore lacking the necessary Byakugan to truly appreciate the dance) and practiced the art in her spare time. Neji had consequently paid special attention to the dancers at one of the ceremonies when he was four and solemnly presented his own version to his father a few weeks later after much secret practice. Though in retrospect he was sure his own rendition had been clumsy and halting, his father's smile throughout had been the most gentle and happy smile Neji could ever remember his father having. That smile had spurred Neji to practice even more in secret, hoping to elicit more such smiles from his usually brooding father. Fate however had other plans, and Neji's father was stolen from him by the Main House before he was able to dance for him again.

In the hazy weeks after his Father's murder Neji, unable to channel his rage towards the Main House for fear of reprisals, had spent every waking moment he wasn't training dancing in the forest, trying to banish his rage, despair, and agony through sheer exhaustion. In the years that followed he continued dancing regularly in secret, his own private way of honouring his parents. He'd even come to realise in time that, like his mother, he loved the dances for their own sake and began reading the scrolls held in the Hyuga library, mastering all the basic dances in the library, including ones that had long since stopped being practiced. For the extremely reserved Neji the dances had provided an outlet for his emotions that he otherwise lacked. He also believed that the constant practice had had the appreciated side effect of increasing his chakra control, stamina, and the precision of his strikes using the Branch Style; validating the techniques initial role as training exercises. He'd have begun mastering the advanced dances, but they were held with other texts on the advanced techniques of the Gentle Fist in the restricted section of the library, which was accessible only by chosen members of the main house.

Hours after he'd first began Neji finally slid to a halt, his body covered in a thin layer of sweat. He'd been careful to not push himself to hard, using a slow and steady stream of chakra spread throughout his body to fuel the exercise and sticking to the less demanding patterns. As he began to walk home he found his thoughts wandered to the oncoming mission, considering the dangers that such a mission, with possible Ninja contact, could bring. He wondered about the skill of Kakashi's team, given they'd demanded a C-class mission despite their rookie status, hopefully they'd be more boon then burden.


End file.
